Constance Duffell was born in England in 1910. She migrated to Australia with her parents and brother on the 'Narkunda' in 1927 aged 17. During the voyage Connie was accommodated with another girl (a stranger) on the lower deck while her mother, father and brother were on the upper deck together. Connie suffered seasickness until reaching Gibraltar.

Her father, Thomas Duffell was brought out to work at the Commonwealth Printing Branch as an engraver and transferrer; this was common apparently for workers to be imported as there was not enough local printing expertise at the time. In 1934 she married Archibald Gordon Maclaurin who had migrated from England in 1928 and worked at the Note Printing Branch. They had two children, Roger and Jocelyn and lived all their lives in Essendon.